Kra languages
| Kra | |
|---|---|
| Geyang | |
| Geographic distribution: |
Southern China, Northern Vietnam |
| Linguistic classification: |
Tai–Kadai
|
| Proto-language: | Proto-Kra |
| Glottolog: | kada1291 |
The Kra languages (Chinese: Gēyāng, 仡央, short for Kláo–Bouxyaeŋz) are a branch of the Tai–Kadai family spoken in southern China (Yunnan, Guangxi, Hainan) and in northern Vietnam. Out of the entire Tai–Kadai family, the Kra branch is the least studied. Individual Kra languages have only been recently described in any detail.
The name Kra comes from the word *kra C "human", which appears as kra, ka, fa, ha in various Kra languages. Benedict (1942) used the term Kadai for the Kra and Hlai languages taken together, and the term Kra-Dai is proposed by Ostapirat for the Tai-Kadai family as a whole.
Several Kra languages have consonant clusters and disyllabic words, whereas other Tai–Kadai languages only have single consonants. The disyllables in Buyang have been used by Sagart (2004)[1] to support the view that the Tai-Kadai languages are a subgroup within the Austronesian family. Unlike the Tai and Kam–Sui languages, most Kra languages, including Gelao and Buyang, have preserved the proto-Tai–Kadai numerical systems. The only other Tai–Kadai branch that preserves this is Hlai. Most other Tai–Kadai languages adopted Chinese numerals over 1000 years ago.
As noted by linguist Jerold A. Edmondson, the Kra languages contain words in metalworking, handicrafts, and agriculture that are not attested in any other Tai–Kadai language. This suggests that the Kra peoples may have developed or borrowed many technological innovations independently of the Tai and Kam-Sui peoples.
Morphological similarities suggest the Kra languages are closest to the Kam–Sui branch of the family. There are about a dozen Kra languages, depending on how languages and dialects are defined. The best known is perhaps the Gelao (Klao) dialect cluster, with about 8,000 speakers in China out of an ethnic population of approximately 500,000.
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